Seatbelts
Seatbelts from my view 'Samuel Soares' ''E''veryone knows that wearing a seat belt lessens the chances of death or injury in automobile accidents. What happens during a traffic accident? During the moment of impact, the people inside of the car are still traveling at the cars original speed. The car then suddenly comes to a halt and the people wearing seat belts stop with the car but the people not wearing seat belts keep moving forward until they hit the steering wheel, the windshield, or they get completely thrown out of the car. Laws have been passed to encourage passengers to either buckle up or face a ticket or fine. The question is why? Why should someone be punished for risking their own life and no one else's? Is a person fined for attempting suicide or ticketed for smoking? The answer to both questions is no. So why should someone face legal consequences if he or she decides to endanger him or herself by not wearing a seat belt? Mississippi is one state where at least the offense is secondary. This means that an officer can only ticket a driver if there is another reason for pulling the car over. He can't pull a vehicle over just because the driver is not wearing a seat belt. However, Alabama and Georgia are two states that have a primary seatbelt law. This means that simply not wearing a seat belt is cause enough for a driver to be pulled over and ticketed, but why? Most laws are made to keep others from endangering someone else. Whose life is being endangered when a person chooses not to wear a seat belt? No one but the individual! Instead of making laws to punish people for not wearing seat belts, we would benifet from a merit system. For example, in the states where the seat belt offense is a secondary offense, the driver, if pulled over for speeding, he should be awarded points for wearing his seat belt. These points should count towards his good driving record for insurance purposes or prior fines or misdemeanor offenses. Those states that seem to need strict seat belt laws could then adopt the seat belt law as a secondary offense instead of primary or try the merit system also. These measures would seem more voluntary than mandatory. Numerous lives can be saved if people would make the choice to wear seat belts. If it was demanded by law to wear a seatbelt age of sixteen and younger but not older and there were more ads that showed the danger of not wearing a seat belt it would prompt more people to wear seatbelts. Why you ask well you tell your kids to brush there teeth they might not do it and if you force them it creates a hassle for both of you. Yet if you tell them that there teeth will rot and fall out at 40 and create the illusion that there getting to choose there going to brush them all the time. I say that there should be child restraint laws for minors because they probably aren't fully aware of the dangers. From what I acquire people over the age sixteen are old enough to make the decision for themselves. I believe seat belt laws infringe on personal freedom. Choosing to use or not to use a seat belt should be the individual's decision. Section heading Write the first section of your page here. Section heading Write the second section of your page here.